Smashed

Follow me on Twitter: @ReginaPhilangey

So, I had wanted to see this movie since seeing trailers for it earlier this year on pretty much ever indie movie that's come out. Learning that Nick Offerman AND Megan Mullally were both in it was the nail in the coffin for me and I was uber excited when it finally arrived at my local Redbox. This was a little indie film that made it's way to 50 theaters last year and brought in about $350k.

The movie centers around Mary Elizabeth Winstead (think 'Ramona' from Scott Pilgrim) who is a young married schoolteacher who also happens to be an alcoholic. She is married to Aaron Paul (who I believe is from Breaking Bad? Not an expert on television shows). As she realizes that her drinking has become a problem and things start getting scary instead of just embarassing, she enlists the help of Nick Offerman and Octavia Spencer and enters a program to get sober. She soon realizes that things aren't as black and white as she hoped once  sober.

I've seen plenty of movies dealing with alcoholism, but I enjoyed how this story played to the
younger audience. It also didn't romanticize sobriety like most movies do. Everything wasn't magically better once sobriety was attained, and in fact, things were harder for this character. There wasn't as much comedy as I expected, but the humor that was there was worth it.

This movie was shot as I would expect for an indie movie on this scale. Lots of shallow depth of field shots and hand-held camera movements. I was a little surprised by the wardrobe choices employed with Winstead's character. It definitely was unique. The use of the acoustic guitar for the score was also as I would expect to find.

I've only ever seen Winstead in Scott Pilgrim and her performance in this movie only increased my respect for her talent. She brought it in this movie. You could see her emotions on her face and almost feel her pain. I will say that her and Aaron Paul both play drunk pretty darn well. He also did a stand-up job with his role. You felt annoyed with him at times but couldn't help also empathize with him. Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally were subtly great. I expected that they would have been brought in for the comedic relief but this was not the case. They were actually really great character actors in this film. It was also nice to see Octavia Spencer do something nice and subtle as
well.

I think 'subtle' is a great way to surmize this movie. It wasn't riddled with over-the-top dramatics sometimes paried with substance abuse stories nor was it a romanticized cautionary tale. It was about how there are no 'easy fixes' when it comes to life's problems, be it alcohol or other problems. It was quite enjoyable. I would recommend it to other who enjoy subtle character-driven indie dramas. "Is that pot? Ew no, what do I look like, a hippie? It's crack". - Smashed